I Promote Margate Ramsgate and Broadstairs towns of The Isle of Thanet plus it's wonderful sandy beaches and bays. I have a theory you can always count ten ships off the coast of Margate and Cliftonville. I test this theory as often as possible. KINGS STEPS MARGATE

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

You can only sharpen a pencil so far

There is a great deal of truth in the Picture above and the picture below is identical it is there to remind you that for the pencil to work properly it needs to be long enough. I has been a long time since I was pricing jobs and doing estimates but I can remember the temptations to cut the prices, cut it to get the job, get my foot in the door, get on the bottom of the ladder etc etc. We have all heard it before do this one cheap and you can be considered for another. Well I took some good advice years ago and it was that the labourer is due his wage not a percentage of it. Not a smaller wage for this job and maybe a better wage if I use you again, chances are they think MUG and never come back to you anyway. I had a conversation recently went something like this "they asked me to do this one for free to see how we get on together". I can guarantee there wont be any future work or if there is the rate you want wont be there. YOU ARE WORTH IT, if you are no good maybe you are not worth it but then you already know that and you wont be around for long. Business is built on trust you trust them to pay they trust you to do! its two way street and if you dont meet in the middle it falls apart and eventualy it becomes a one way street and you are going the wrong way.

1 comment:

Well said Don!Way back in the 70's I earned some useful loot as a pro photographer, charging the then 'average rate for the area'.I attended a two day seminar in London where a lively American suggested that we were ALL charging too little and wanted us to quadruple our prices.With little faith I did and my number of assignments doubled! The client thinking appeared to be, 'if he is this expensive he must be good'. And I was too.It takes as much effort to gain and retain a cheapo client as it does to grab a big spender. Go figure! Col